How to call for any card in the pack.
Take the cards and shuffle them, or let any body else shuffle them, or lay down the whole pack on the table before you, with their faces downwards, then drawing off the upper card say, Here I call for the card of good luck; and when you have seen what that card is, which you must do as privately as you can, and be sure not to let the company see him, then say, Here I call for ———, naming your card of good luck, and so take the next uppermost card, and then having seen him, say, Here I call for the ———, naming the card you took up last, and so take off the next uppermost card, and thus still calling for the card you last took up, you may call for as many as you please; or, if you will, you may thus go round the pack, and, in the mean time, cause one to write down the names of the cards, in the same order as you call for them, which they may do in brief, thus by writing a figure for the number of the spots, as 1 for the ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so to ten; and then kn. for the knave, q. for queen, and kg. for king, adding a letter for the suits viz. c. for clubs, s. for spades, h. for hearts, and d. for diamonds, e. g. is three or four cards; suppose the three first cards, called for, were, the ace of clubs, the tray of spades, and the five of diamonds, they be set down thus, 1 C——3 S—5 D, and so of any other: having thus gone round, with as many as you please, take them from the table, saying, Look now in your paper, see which card I call for first, which second, and which third, &c. and whilst he is looking, do you flip the card of good luck under the bottom of the pack, then holding the cards with their faces upwards, take them off one by one, and they will come in the same order as you called them, only the last card will not be set down in the paper, and it must be pretended he was the card of good luck.
Another way to call for a card.
After having privately seen the uppermost card, lay the cards down in three or four heaps, but not above, then begin at the heap farthest off from you, that has the known card on the top, and say, Here I call for the ———, naming the known card; then go to the next heap, saying, Here I call for the ———, naming the card you took up last; proceed in the same manner, viz. still naming the card you last took up, till you come to the last heap, so the card you call for first, will come last; but here note, you must keep the cards close that they may not be seen till you have done calling, and then you must lay them down, one by one, in the same order as you called them.
To tell one what card any one thinketh on.
Take 21 cards, and begin to lay them down, three in a row, with their faces upwards, then begin again at the left-hand, and lay one card upon the first, and soon the right hand, and then begin at the left-hand again and so go on to the right, do this till you have laid out the 21 cards in three heaps, but as you are laying them out, bid any one think on a card, and when you have laid them all out, ask him in which heap his card is in, then lay the card in the middle betwixt the other two; then lay them all out again into three heaps, as before, and as you lay them out, bid him take notice where his noted card goes; when you have laid them all out, ask him in what heap it is now? put that heap in the middle as before, and lay out the cards a third time, bidding him take notice where his noted card goes, and put that heap in the middle as before; then taking the cards with their backs towards you, take off the uppermost card, smelling to him, reckon him 1, then take off another, and smelling him, reckon him 2, this do till you come to the eleventh card, for that will always be the noted card, after the third time of laying them out, though you should lay in this manner ever so often; you must never lay out the cards less than three times, but as often above as you please. This trick may be done by any odd number of cards that may be divided by three.
Another way to tell one what card is noted.
When one has noted a card, take it and put it at the bottom of the pack, then shuffle the cards till it come again to the bottom; then see what is the bottom card, for it is the noted card, which you may do without being taken notice of; thus, when you have shuffled the cards, turn them with their faces towards you, and nock their ends upon the table, as though you would knock them level; and whilst you are so doing, take notice of the bottom card, which you may do without suspicion, especially having shuffled them before; then when you know the card shuffle them again, and give them to any of the company, and let them shuffle them, for you know the card already, and may easily find it at any time.